BLOOMINGTON – Clif Marshall is going to earn his salary plus hazard pay at this rate.

Marshall, conditioning coach for the IU basketball team, is about to see his work put to a stern test. It’s possible IU will face UC Davis, Friday’s visitor, with six scholarship players and team captain Zach McRoberts sidelined because of injuries.

“I don’t know if I’ve been around that one too much,” coach Archie Miller said after Tuesday’s 78-64 win against UT Arlington.

Injuries have been an obstacle since opening night for Indiana, when sophomore guard Al Durham, freshman forward Jerome Hunter and redshirt freshman forward Race Thompson were all sidelined.

McRoberts started IU’s first two games but left the second with a back problem that’s held him out of the last three. Miller suggested recently that McRoberts could return within the next week or two.

Devonte Green sat out the exhibition against Southern Indiana with a thigh bruise, returned to play 49 minutes combined in wins against Chicago State and Montana State, and then changed back into street clothes for Marquette, Arkansas and UT Arlington for the same problem. Miller expressed similar hope in getting Green back soon.

There are more complicated cases still.

Thompson came back from a groin issue, scored his first career points against Montana State and has been out since with concussion-like symptoms. He didn’t travel to Arkansas on Sunday but rejoined the Hoosiers on the bench Tuesday. IU has not provided a timetable for his return.

Hunter’s might be the most concerning injury of all. Initially, he sat out with what was described as soreness. Then, Miller referenced an “underlying” problem Indiana was working to diagnose. Last Wednesday, Hunter underwent surgery for an undisclosed lower-body issue at the Cleveland Clinic. He is still recuperating from that procedure and has yet to rejoin his teammates.

“It's sort of a leg injury, but it's not a typical leg injury that is an injury caused by practicing or something,” Miller said Nov. 9. “It's more of an underlying effect that's causing him some pain. When we get all the answers, he'll be evaluated and decided on. As of right now, though, Jerome will be out for a to-be-determined amount of time.”

On Tuesday, junior forward De’Ron Davis joined the sidelined players. Still playing his way back into game shape following an Achilles tendon tear in his right leg in January, Davis was held out of the UT Arlington game with “Achilles soreness” in his left leg, after playing extended bench minutes in the loss at Arkansas because of Juwan Morgan’s foul trouble.

“We found out this morning” that Davis was unavailable, Miller said Tuesday. “He's obviously got some Achilles soreness in his other leg and had some pain running. I just listen to what they tell me. He wasn't available (Tuesday), so I guess we'll see (Wednesday) where he's at with some things, and hopefully we can get him back.”

That led Miller to a tight seven-man rotation against the Mavericks, with forwards Damezi Anderson and Evan Fitzner serving as the entirety of IU’s bench behind a starting lineup of Durham, Morgan, Robert Phinisee, Romeo Langford and Justin Smith.

Then Durham left after trying to play through pain traced back to a hard fall he took finishing a layup in the first half. The sophomore played 11 minutes but left the IU bench sometime in the first half and didn’t return.

“Al got taken out on the breakaway, or at least was knocked out of the air,” Miller said. “Landed on his back. I don't have a report other than he said he couldn't go back in.”

And Langford, Indiana’s leading scorer, left with 4½ minutes remaining in the game and blood dripping from his nose. He appeared to take sharp contact from the head of a UT Arlington player trying to drive to the basket late in the second half.

“Romeo clearly got popped in the nose,” Miller said. “I don't have any indication if his nose is broken or anything. But (with) the blood and trying to get it to stop, he wasn't able to finish the game the last four minutes. So that would make seven scholarship players not available due to injury.”

Miller paused after the word “seven” in that last sentence, looking up ruefully.

He managed with what by Tuesday’s end was a non-existent bench against the Mavericks. IU held off a late rally that saw its lead trimmed from 20 points to one; the Hoosiers leaned on Morgan (23 points, 10 rebounds) and got timely late contributions from Anderson and Fitzner to pull back ahead for good. Miller tried lineup combinations he later admitted he had never even experimented with in practice.

With Thanksgiving on Thursday, it’s not likely Miller will speak publicly again before Indiana’s visit from UC Davis. So it’s anyone’s guess which players will be warming up Friday night, and which will be watching in street clothes.

Morgan said with only the slightest hint of humor in his voice that, “If it gets to that point where we have to play five people 40 minutes a game, then that’s what we’ll do.”

Miller will hope it doesn’t come to that, but in the short term, he’s going to have to get creative. And maybe hope for some better luck.